ENERGOS EfW facility enters commissioning ahead of schedule

Jan. 28, 2010 - PRLog -- Commissioning is underway at a second ENERGOS gasification plant at Borregaard Industries, Sarpsborg, in Norway – the company’s eighth energy recovery facility (ERF) in Europe.

Steam is now being generated from waste at the new Sarpsborg ERF as it undergoes rigorous testing as part of the early commissioning process. It is expected to be handed over in May, two months ahead of schedule.

The facility is owned by Norway’s leading power supplier, Hafslund Heat and Power AS, who appointed ENERGOS  in February 2008 to deliver the M&E package of their £45 million ERF.

The 32MW ENERGOS plant will process 78,000 tonnes per year of residual commercial and industrial waste – generating up to 250 GWh/a of steam to displace approximately 24,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil that is currently used to power the chemical works. The ENERGOS process will recover in excess of 80% of the energy contained in the non-recyclable waste.

http://www.energ.co.uk/energy_from_waste

The new plant complements the existing 27MW Ostfold Energi-owned ENERGOS facility that has been generating 185 GWh/a of steam for Borregaard since 2002 – bringing ENERGOS’ total processing capacity in Sarpsborg to 156,000 tonnes.

The new plant will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by a total of approx 40,000 tonnes per year, which is equivalent to the environmental benefit of four million trees.

ENERGOS, part of UK owned sustainable power group ENER-G (www.energ.co.uk), began operating its first advanced thermal conversion facility in Norway at Ranheim in 1997. The company has since accumulated over 400,000 hours of operating experience at its plants, including its newest ERF in the UK, which opened on the Isle of Wight in 2009. . A further six ENERGOS plants (Newport, Irvine, Lincolnshire, Barry, Doncaster and Knowsley) have received UK planning permission and are targeted to open in 2013.

Said Pål Mikkelsen, CEO Hafslund Miljøenergi and Regional manager Hafslund Heat and Power AS: ”We are very pleased with ENERGOS’ performance and delivery so far in the project. All deadlines have been met during the build and the plant was ready to deliver clean and renewable energy to Borregaard as scheduled. The ENERGOS technology was chosen due to the proven performance and environmental impact.”

Nick Dawber, Managing Director of ENERGOS, added: “We’ve been able to use our previous experience at our seven existing plants to build in record time the Sarpsborg facility, which is the largest Energos plant to date. The fact that Borregaard Industries, the world’s most advanced biorefinery and leading supplier of wood-based chemicals, now has two Energos plants is fantastic testimony to the quality and efficiency of our technology and service”.

The ENERGOS technology was developed in Norway during the early 1990s in conjunction with the University of Trondheim. In Europe, ENERGOS offers the only proven and commercially viable gasification technology capable of generating renewable energy from municipal waste and post-recycling residue. It offers a clean energy recovery from waste solution that provides a best practice alternative to mass-burn incineration and a commercially proven and bankable alternative to landfill.

ENERGOS uses its own patented gasification technology, an advanced two-stage thermal treatment process that converts residual, non-recyclable waste into a gas by using the heat of partial combustion to liberate the hydrogen and carbon within the waste. Residual waste is fed into the gasification chamber, where it is manufactured into a syngas. This syngas is then transferred to a secondary oxidation chamber where it is fully combusted in a controlled environment that enables much tighter control than can be achieved in conventional energy from waste plants – resulting in extremely low emissions. The resulting heat energy is used to produce steam, which can be used to supply renewable heat and/or electricity.

A typical ENERGOS plant generates 8MW of green electricity. This is sufficient to power 10,000 homes and would equate to the output of 15 large wind turbines. It is designed to complement recycling initiatives and is a small scale model that can exist at the heart of the community. As such, facilities can be sited next to energy consumers to optimise heat recovery, or in locations where a heat delivery or district heating system could be developed.

This approach complements the aims of the new EU Waste Framework Directive that sets a target of 50% recycling of waste by 2020 and recognises high efficiency energy recovery as recycling.

The company has an excellent track record of safe operation – achieving ultra low emissions that are significantly lower than the stringent safe limits required by the EU Emissions Standard. The track record of all the operating ENERGOS plants shows that dioxin emissions are typically 1% of the EU safe limit. This is achieved by the extremely effective control of the combustion of the syngas in the second stage combined with the unique design of the boiler system that cools the gas down rapidly to reduce the reformation of dioxins. Finally, any residual dioxins are removed using carbon and a filter to remove dust particles. NOx emissions are less than 25% of the EU limit, without any form of de-NOx system.

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